With the 597 Fifth deal*, some brokers say Sitt overpaid for a building whose street-level interior space is landmarked, meaning that it will be difficult to stick just any old tenant in there.

However, Thor may be gambling the building can fetch higher rents, which is a bet many private-equity players make, said Ben Thypin, director of market analysis for Real Capital Analytics. “They’re always looking for the Goldilocks of risk,” Thypin said. “Risky enough, but not too risky.”

Ben Carlos Thypin

I am currently the co-founder of Quantierra, the world's first data driven real estate brokerage and investment manager. In my former life as Director of Market Analysis at Real Capital Analytics, I worked with press outlets large and small to provide them with great data and insightful commentary. Here are some of the results of this collaboration. For the rest, please check out the News Archive.